Co Loa Citadel in Hanoi has been badly damaged by lack of public care and lax management. 

Co Loa Citadel

Co Loa Citadel is 16km away from Hanoi and was the capital of Au Lac Kingdom during the 3rd century BC. It is considered the oldest and has the most unique structures of Vietnam's citadels and is referenced in the legend of My Chau-Trong Thuy. However it has been damaged and encroached upon illegally for many years.

According to the Heritage Conservation Centre of Thang Long - Hanoi, they received 39 reports in 2015, 26 cases in 2016 and 25 cases in 2017. 21 cases were reported to the centre in the first nine months of 2018.

Nearly 1,000 households have been living inside the citadels for hundreds of years, before the citadel was recognised as the national heritage site in 1962 and management was extremely lax. In 2006, many households were able to acquire land-use certificates which was inconsistent with heritage law.

The walls of the citadel were damaged when people built roads and houses. The moats which were full of water were filled up for rice fields and fish farms.

Le Viet Dung, deputy head of Co Loa Management Board, said there were too many management agencies. The management board only manages the temples, old wells and lakes inside the citadel while the rest is managed by Co Loa Commune People's Committee.

Lai Van Toi from the Institute of Imperial Citadel Studies commented that the authorities were too focused on constructions inside the citadels like temples while forgetting about the whole structure like the walls, moats and river.

Deputy head of the Centre for Preservation and Promotion of Cultural Heritage Values Nguyen Van Huy said, "The citadel is in a critical state. If the authorities do not act quickly, it will be destroyed completely. It also further shows the lack of public awareness and shortcomings in management policies in the past 60 years."

Tran Dinh Thanh from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said since the citadel was huge, it had families who had lived inside the citadel for generations. In 2015, a master plan to restore and preserve the citadel was approved to deal with violations gradually and turn the site into a tourist attraction. Hanoi People's Committee has transferred the management authorities to Co Loa Management Board and several investments have been started.

Thanh went on to say that they had regularly worked with Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports to monitor the citadel. But overall, Hanoi authorities are responsible for managing, protecting and developing the citadel.

"The citadel will be better managed with the master plan. The number of violations has decreased in the past three years and the authorities are also working over the shortcomings," he said.

Dtinews